The Very First
by Lover of everything books
Summary: MJ has noticed Peter before, but when a girl she's never met (and thinks is homeless) is suddenly living with Peter and a student, Michelle suspects something out of her already messed up ordinary. All Peter needed was help with homework (and, ahem, MJ), but when he gets a fateful spider bite that turns his world upside-down, he needs more than just help with that from Avery.
1. The Meeting

~~MJ~~

I checked my phone again. Zero messages. Damn it. I was hoping not to have to take the bus home again, not after last time, but it's looking like my only option. I've texted basically everyone who would ever give me a ride, and so far, I've got no answers. Fuck.

I sigh and walk into a coffee shop. I'd usually walk home alone, but some creep has been following me, and I' not about to risk that.

The bell on the door jingles, and I look up. A very disheveled Peter walks in, and I duck my head down. No way in hell am I going to face that right now.

He sits down at the table in front of me, fidgeting and looking around like he's waiting for someone. It's been at least ten minutes since he sat down when the door opens again. He looks up, his face alight like a kid waking up to presents on Christmas morning.

A girl in slightly ragged clothing walks in, looking like she hasn't slept in weeks. She rubs her eyes before sitting down across from Parker.

"So," She says, shooting a sad smile in his direction.

"So," he repeats.

"You said you needed… Help? With something?"

He glances around the small space, and I pretend to be a regular teen who's obsessed with her phone. "Yeah. I… I, um…"

She takes in his appearance, then looks my way. I get the feeling she knows exactly what I'm doing, a theory that is confirmed when she says, "So, I'm gonna guess that this is really important, and probably shouldn't be overheard. If that is the case, I'm going to suggest that we do not talk about it here."

He furrows his eyebrows. "Oh."

She smiles. "Besides," she says, standing up. "I've gotta get to the library."

Parker cocks his head to the side. "Why?"

She looks incredibly tired, wise, and very, very sad. "I have to meet my sister. There is no way in hell that she's sleeping outside in the cold with weirdos who…" She seems to struggle to find the words. "Who… like to hurt things."

I can picture Peter's reaction; complete horror, along with an aftershock of pain for this homeless girl's way of life.

"You and your sister can sleep at my place," he offers, and I know this total nerd means it. Because that's just who he is.

She beams at him. "Nope," and she's out the door like that.

_Thank you guys so, so much for reading! I'm already working on the second chapter, and hopefully it'll be out soon._

_**Disclaimer**__: I do not own any of these characters other than Avery and Alex Quinn._

_-Lover of everything books_


	2. Texting

~~_Peter_~~

I walk into the apartment and plopped down on my bed with a sigh.

"I'm home," I call out to my aunt.

"Mm-hm," she responds. She's probably tired out of her mind with the work to match, which sucks. "You should go to bed, kiddo."

I sigh, because she's not wrong. I feel like I haven't slept in days. "Where's Uncle Ben?" I ask. Usually my uncle is home before me- and I've been out for at least two hours longer than normal.

"Something wrong with the electrical wires, yada yada yada. Basically, -=his boss has decided Ben's going to have to stay late tonight," she answers.

I flop onto my back, thinking about what Avery had said. _"This is really important, and probably shouldn't be overheard."_ She was completely right. I hadn't thought much about the girl with a head of brown, curly hair who was sitting at the table behind me, but thinking back to it, it had most likely been Michelle. _Oh gosh, thank god Avery made me stop talking,_ I think, blushing.

I'd heard Avery giving relationship advice to a woman while I was walking down the street, and had asked her for help. No _guy_ is going to have the kind of advice I need (at least none that actually works), and Avery has a personality almost _exactly_ like Michelle's. If anyone's going to help me with this, it's going to be her.

I feel a tinging in my back pocket and pull out my phone, looking down at the lock screen's notification center. I frown, my eyebrows creased, as I see a text from an unknown number. _Hey, u still up? _Asks the person on the other end.

I snort, and type back a reply. _Sorry, buddy. She gave you the wrong number._

_ Actually, this is Michelle. It's Peter, right? _I let out a small gasp, and try to remember any reason _at all_ Michelle might want to talk to me. Also, how the heck she got my number.

_Yeah, this is Peter._ The thing I love about texting is that you can revise and edit and delete something you hadn't meant to say, perfecting your words until they're just right.

_Oh. Good._ Either Michelle hasn't found out the amazing thing about texting, or she's being awkward to make me uncomfortable.

I wait for a minute, but she doesn't say anything else, signifying that it's my turn to talk again. _So, what's up?_

_Oh, nothing. You?_ I'm in the middle of making her number a contact when she shoots off a reply.

_Nothing much._ I pause as my finger hovers over the send button and think through my message. Sending just this and nothing else will send _us_ into the dreading radio silence with no idea how to move forward. Or it'll do that to me, anyways. So, I write more before sending it. _Y are u texting?_ Oh god, no. Especially not with the abbreviated words. Michelle's the kind of person who makes _fun_ of people for abbreviating words. Quietly, anyways. I revise my addition. _Why'd you text?_ Okay, okay. Yes. I send the text.

_That took a long time for five words. _She's avoiding my question, but I don't really care. It was just to keep the conversation going, anyways.

_Technically six if you could the apostrophe._ I'm avoiding her question, too, and like me, she doesn't say anything.

_Ha. Yeah, I guess so_

Shoot. We've gone into radio silence, even with all my careful planning. I'm going to have to venture into dangerous ground to get the texting match started again. _ So, why ARE you texting?_

Silence, and I think I've blown it. But then, _You're bolder when you don't have to look at a face, Parker._

I decide to play it on the very unsafe side and take a chance. _You're avoiding the question._

_ That took a long time for six words._

Oh, so that's how _she's_ playing it. _And you continue to avoid the question._

_ Big words from you, Parker. _Oh my god, are we at that stage already? Are we already teasing each other? Ohmigod, do we have _inside jokes?_

I'm basically hyperventilating as I type back, _Are you going to answer the question or not?_

It takes a minute for her to reply, and I think that I've _completely_ blown it. Again. _I say you today. At a coffee shop. Just wondering what you and that girl were talking about._

I swallow, glad she can't see my face. _We were talking about _you_, _I thought, but I obviously can't say _that_. Then I realized that she didn't actually ask me what I was talking to Avery about, just said she was wondering about it. I was going to take as much time as I could to think up an answer. _Oh. Okay._

She waited for more, but I gave her nothing. _So, are you going to tell me or not?_

_ Not. _I don't even think about it as I type my reply.

_Ha. Really tho, tell me_

_ Nope_

_ Come on, Parker. Don't be a jumpy cat_

_ Jumpy cat?_ I text back, confused. Is it not scardy-cat? Have I missed something? Oh god, what if everyone at school is saying jumpy cat instead of scardy cat and just nerds like me missed out on the trend?

_Just something I made up. Everything's getting so old now, scardy cat should be 'out' soon. Usually that's not something I pay attention to, but… Stuff._

_ Stuff. _I agree.

She pauses again. _So. Wanna meet up after Decathlcon tomorrow?_

I can't believe my luck. _I_ just got asked out on a _date_ by _Michelle Jones, _and I didn't even really have to do anything other than text her! Well. Not a _date_, but almost!

_Sure. _I'm not going to sound too over excited or to chill about it, and 'Sure,' sounded perfect.

_Okay, great. James's Coffee Shop?_

I've never heard of James's Coffee Shop, but it sounds like a good place to stop after doing math equations for a few hours. _Sounds great._

_ Awesome. By the way, call me MJ. _Ohmi_god_, are we at nicknames now? Do I call her this all the time, or just on the phone? Should I make up a nickname for _myself_, too? Do I tell her to 'call me Pete, by the way?'?

I try to calm down. Again, I'm taking way to long for what should only be a couple of words. _Okay, cool. Bye. _I hit send, then think again. Instead of deleting it (Mich- ahem, _MJ_ had already read it and would think it was weird), I type one more word before sending the message. _MJ._

_ Bye. _She pauses. _Parker._

_Oh my gods, I can't believe I already have a second chapter out. This is so exciting! I love doing this. Thank you guys so much for reading!_

_-Lover of everything books_


	3. Basically Just a Filler but Needed

~~_MJ_~~

I power off my phone and sigh happily. _Oh god, no,_ I think, hearing myself. I will _not_ get all happy-sighing over Peter Parker, resident nerd of the world. I turn off the light and flop onto my bed, suddenly very, very tired. I put my phone on the bedside table and am dead to the world in about five seconds.

_Beep. Beep beeeeeeeeeep. Beep beep BEEEEEEEEEEEP!_

I roll over, groaning. Why did I ever think this ring tone was a good idea? _Because it wakes you up, idiot, _a voice inside my head whispers. "Ugh, whatever," I tell it, reaching over for my phone.

It's Peter, and I can't help the smile that spreads across my face. _Hey, we still on for tonight?_ He asks.

_Of course._ God, I sound like a total dweeb.

_Oh, great. I just thought_ he cuts off before he finishes, and I wonder what he was going to say.

_You thought…?_ I ask.

_Stuff. I thought stuff._

_Stuff is a good thing to think._

_Ha. Yeah :)_

We both wait for the other to text, but for at least a minute neither of us do.

Then, Peter texts again. _Sorry to text so early. Just was doing something, decided to check_

_Early? _I ask, then check the time. _Wait, what the heck?_ I think, seeing that it's _two thirty in the morning._ What the _hell_ was he doing up?

_Yeah, it's like two o'clock. Didn't you notice?_

_No, just sorta grabbed my phone._

_Haha _

_Yeah. See you tomorrow then? _I'm already excited for our… not a date. No way would I ask _Peter Parker_ on a _date_. Right? _Wrong,_ a small voice in my head answers. Damn it, it's _not_ a date! It's just two friends meeting up after practice. It happens all the time.

_Yup. Tomorrow. Or, today, right?_

_Ha, yeah. I guess so._ The thought makes me smile more. _Oh my _god_, MJ. He's just a weirdo from your school,_ I chide myself.

_Well, sorry again for the timing. See you after Decathlon._

_See you, Parker. _

I flop back on my bed, arms and legs spread out like a spider as a happy sigh escapes my lips. _Betrayal,_ I think, but can't really be angry at myself as I fall asleep.

I wake up (for the second time, *eyeroll*) and roll out of bed, thankful that I'd laid out my clothes for today last night. I sigh and put them on. _Why school? Really, I could take an online course and be done in, what, two months?_ The thought is tempting (it always is) until I remember that taking an online course would basically mean never seeing Peter again. I groan as I realize that this insignificant nerd is going to keep me at an annoying school for at least the remainder of high school. I pull my clothes on and walk downstairs for breakfast, curtsy of yours truly.

I'm already at my locker by the time Peter gets to school, and I watch as he runs his hand through his hair (which is completely messed up- not that I'd notice). I look on as his hunched form walks down the hallway, his eyes barely staying open enough for him not to trip, and my mind drifts back to our conversation earlier this morning. He'd said he was 'doing something' _before_ at least 2:30 am, and I wonder what the hell could've been going on for him to be awake and using his phone at that time in the morning.

For some reason, I notice that instead of being drowned in the cloth of his hoodie as he usually is, his body and muscles showing through the thin cloth, victim of too many washes. The hoodie is looking almost—might I say _formfitting?_

I blush despite myself, wondering why on Earth I thought that about possibly the most unusual high schooler on the planet. _Not exactly a bad characteristic,_ that annoying voice in my head whispers.

He's gone before I can it to shut up.

…

Decathlon has been going on for an hour, and Peter is a no-show. I'm beginning to stop feeling worried and start feeling absolutely pissed after 32 texts and five calls have gone unread and unanswered. _Where the hell are you, Parker?_ I type.

"Michelle!" Liz says sharply, eyeing the phone in my hand. "We're already short a member, and state championships are only three weeks away. I swear to god, if you think I'm going to let you check Snapchat or something, you have got me _wrong_. Very, _very_ wrong."

Usually Liz wouldn't call me out like this, but we're all on edge. As she said, only three weeks 'til state championships, and not everyone's giving their all. We've got a long way to go if we want to win.

"I'm just trying to figure out where Peter is," I sigh, shoving my phone into my back pocket.

"He said he was going to do something with his uncle after school today, and that he might be late to Decathlon," Ned explained. I didn't tell him about our (that is to say, me and Peter's) little- uh, meet-up tonight. It would just make things weird, especially if Peter hadn't told him about it.

I make it through Decathlon without completely losing my mind over Peter bailing out, and even though I'm so pissed I can barely speak to my parents without getting in trouble for my tone, I'm in my room and hanging out on my bed on my phone.

I click on a pop-up BREAKING NEWS article. "_Man Shot and Killed by Armed Robber While with Nephew," _Reads the title. My eyebrows crease as my eyes follow the words of the first paragraph. "_While on an errand with his nephew, Ben Parker…"_ That's all I read before I slump down on the bed frame. _No, no, no…_ Ben Parker only has one nephew.

I don't have to read the rest of the article to know his name is Peter Parker.

_Oh my gods, I'm soooo sorry this took so long. I've only gotten a few hours of sleep each day for the past like two weeks, and I'm just trying not to fall asleep on my feet. In at least the next few chapters I'm going to try an idea I saw a favorite fanfiction author use. LeiaHestia, an author from this site (Check out her story 'Loners, Losers, Love, and Other Things that Start with the Letter 'L''!), does a soundtrack for each chapter, and I'm waiting to see if I can use that idea. Anyways, thanks so much for your patients (I think I spelled it right- if not, the version that keeps you kind while you wait). Hope you're enjoying the story!_

_-Lover of everything books_


	4. Death and Memories

_Thank you to __cabrera1234__ for the follow! I'm so glad you like the story._

~~_Peter_~~

I shiver, tears still staining my face. I pull the blanket first responders gave me tighter around myself. Aunt May is here, but it barely registers as I try and figure out what happened. One second Ben was with me. He was laughing, he was teasing me about MJ, and we were taking the usual shortcut through the ally way.

And then there was a guy there. And he had a mask. And a gun. And then… and then….

_And then what happened?_ I struggle to remember, and realize my nose is running. I wipe it, and then can feel fresh tears coming down my face because _I can't remember_. The police asked me over and over in a hundred different ways and _I can't remember_. I start full-on crying again, because I know that without my testimony, without _my memories_, this guy won't go to jail. There are no other witnesses. They can't find the gun. The guy doesn't even have _blood_ on him. _There is nothing to tie him to this without my testimony._ So why can't I just _remember_?

"Oh, honey," May's voice is breaking, and as she wraps her arms around me I can feel the tears on her face.

I feel like crap for ignoring her. She's obviously hurting so much more than I am right now, and all I could do was get angry at myself. "I'm fine, May," my voice is gentle as I hug her back. "Are you okay?"

She cries harder. "Oh, honey," she repeats her words over and over, her voice getting quieter each time.

Someone is running toward us, pushing past the police lines and shoving the officers away as they try to stop her from getting to me and May. I want to cry again as I see Avery's concerned but determined expression. "Oh my gods, Peter. Oh my gods," She says, running up to me and May.

Aunt May takes a shaky breath before speaking, and I feel like my heart is being wrenched out of my heart as I hear her voice hitch. "Are- are you… one of Peter's friends?" May asks.

Avery's eyes soften as her attention turns to May, and she doesn't say anything as she wraps my aunt in a hug. My recent acquaintance and my aunt who's raised me since my parents died hugging after my _uncle_ died is almost to much to get my head around, but all of my thoughts are wiped from my head as I see that Avery is actually _making it better_.

"Breathe, just breathe," she says softly, rocking May back and forth. May's tears aren't nonexistent, but they don't look like they hurt nearly as much. They aren't body-racking sobs anymore, but soft and silent tears sliding down her cheeks as she struggles to pull herself together.

Usually silent tears hurt the most, but Avery being here somehow makes them hurt the least.

We're all back at my apartment- Avery, her sister Alex, May, and me. And I know that this is something I should be happy about, us all being together.

But I can't help thinking about the person who's not with us.

Alex is asleep on the couch, her tiny six-year-old form scrunched up in a ball. Somehow, she looks very comfortable. Avery is sitting at the table with my aunt, listening to her sob-ridden voice talk about Uncle Ben. Avery told me that it'd be good for her to get it all out and not have it balled up inside, but it still sucks to hear May talk about Ben in the past tense.

I guess I'll have to get used to it, though.

I'm still trying to remember what happened in the alleyway. Avery wouldn't let me talk to anyone other than a few simple questions when I confessed that I was drawing a blank about tonight's events—something about witnesses being unreliable after talking to other people, especially when they can't remember what happened. She wouldn't even let anyone _suggest_ how things might've played out, not wanting me to accidently convince myself of something that didn't happen.

Honestly, Avery should be a police officer. Or maybe she should work with the FBI.

_FBI?_

FLASHBACK:

_Uncle Ben is there in the alleyway. "Oh, come on, Peter," he's saying. He's laughing, that deep chuckle May always said proved he was Santa's brother when I was little. "You have to tell me about her! Do you get butterflies in your stomach when you think of her? Do you-" he gasps, but I know it's for dramatic purposes. "Peter, do you _love_ her?"_

_ "Ben!" I exclaim, my face flushing brick red. "The first time I really talked to her was last night!"_

_ He laughs his deep chuckle again. "Well, you never know," he says. "You know I thought your aunt was an FBI agent on our first date?" He sighs as if he's reminiscing about his younger days._

_ "No you didn't," I say, bumping him with my shoulder._

_ I hear a gunshot, and grab for my usually slow uncle's arm- but he's not there. I _know_ he wouldn't leave me alone with a trigger-happy gunman, and I slowly turn to where my uncle was._

_ "_No! _No, no, no…" _

_ He's crumpled on the ground, a pool of blood surrounding him. I spot the bullet hole in his chest amongst the blood and drop to my knees._

_ I don't even have to check his pulse to know he's dead._

Suddenly I know why my subconscious fought so hard to forget that moment.

Because if I hadn't bumped his shoulder, if I hadn't given him that little nudge to the left, the bullet wouldn't have gone through his heart.

_HOLY SHIZZLE, I didn't even PLAN that ending. But, woah, am I glad I thought of it while I was writing the flashback. Holy fudge._

_Anyways, thank you so much for reading (even when my chapters suck/are very, very short). I'm still waiting on a response from LeiaHestia on the soundtrack thing, so until he/she/they/whatever-they-want-to-be-called gets back to me I'm gonna wait on adding it in. Please comment if you read this chapter (and have time to comment)- I'm not actually sure if anyone's reading this. But, if you are, thanks again for reading!_

_-Lover of everything books_


	5. Sorry About All of This

p style="text-align: center;"strongHey, y'all./strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;"strongSo, I haven't written in about forever, and for that I am sorry. Unfortunately, my computer has decided to desert me. It's sort of broken down, and I have all of my work on there, so I can't publish the next chapter until I get it fixed. I hope y'all forgive me and my horrid (and admit very out-of-date) computer, and trust me, I'll probably be able to get another chapter out soon./strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;"strongAnyways, thanks for understanding. Hope y'all are having a good day./strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;"strong-Lover of everything books/strong/p 


	6. Where Have You Been?

_SOUNDTRACK:  
Where are You Now- Justin Bieber_

_In Loving Memory- Alter Bridge_

_I Won't Let Go- Rascal Flat_

_I know my music sucks, but deal with it._

~~_Peter_~~

Avery has been acting weird.

I'm pretty sure that she did something with my phone, maybe added a tracker to it or something. She's really bad at keeping secrets when they're not super important.

I think I ate? Maybe sometime around… two days ago? It's still better than May, but Avery won't have it. "It takes around thirty to forty days for someone to die because they aren't eating," She had said when I'd gone a week without eating. "I'm not gonna let you or your aunt even get _close_ to that." She's having a harder time with May, but I'm pretty compliant. She's usually able to shove food through my mouth.

Thank god for Avery. Without her, I doubt me or May would still be alive and well.

Alex has been helping out where she can, even as a six-year-old. She cracks jokes worthy of a peppy version of her older sister. She gets even May excited about eating junk food and watching movies. Junk food is some of the only stuff May will eat and keep down, and somehow, I think that Alex made that happen, somewhere along the way.

There's also the crazy sticking-to-walls Spider-Guy thing, but I've put figuring it out on hold for now.

I rub my eyes like it's one a.m., when in reality it's close to lunch time. Avery's gonna make me eat again; I can feel it. I roll out of bed, shirtless but in sweatpants, and walk out of my room and right into-

"MJ?" It's almost a gasp, but my voice cracks as I say the words. It's been awhile since I used my voice.

Not a very pleasant thought.

MJ is… _No she's not,_ I try to convince myself, but it doesn't work. MJ is staring at my shirtless self, and I'm about to think she has no shame when she tries to pull her eyes away, not blush, and talk coherently at the same time.

"_Yahthat'smeI'mMJorMichelleorwhatever,_" She mumbles, and I can't help but think it's like she's talking at the speed of light- but quiet. I wasn't even aware that was possible.

"Oh, MJ. Nice to see you." Avery doesn't look like she's been planning this, but she's fighting a smug smirk.

That evil woman.

I try to smile, and it hurts my face. "Hi. How are you?"

"_I'mdoingfinethanksPeterhowareyou_," her face is still bright red, and Avery looks back and forth between us before her eyes widen at whatever she saw.

"Why don't you two _talk_ in _Peter's room?_" She doesn't wait for a reply as she shoves us into my room, slamming the door behind us.

"_Ijustwantedtocheckinonyoucauseyouknowyouhaven'tbeenaround,_" She rushes out the words without looking at me. Instead, she stares down at her hands.

"That was nice of you." I shoot her a tight-lipped smile. This is, like, my dream, MJ seeing me without a shirt and getting- flustered, I guess. And somehow?

I'm not nearly as excited as I should be.

"You- you- you look. Good. Not that I'd normally notice, just- yeah, and you know muscles aren't actually attractive? I mean, not supposed to be," She rambles on. "It's just, like, muscles now equal power and you know who doesn't like power because power, right. Any anyways it's only seen as attractive now, I mean being slim is- yeah, because it signifies that you don't eat a lot of food, and that's good now because it means you don't use up a lot of the reasoruces but it used to be that pretty or hansom was to be what we today call fat because it meant you were well fed. And-"

"MJ," I trail off, but she doesn't stop.

"And I think it's stupid that we let the media and society tell us what beauty is," she finishes, and finally she looks up at me. "So, really, you're not-" She breaks off, and suddenly I _really need _to know what she was about to say.

"So, really, I'm not what?"

"So really you're not attractive, at all, to anyone. I mean, to people who aren't stupid."

"So," I almost smile. "Now that we've established that I'm not attractive."

"_HOLY SHIT, _PETER PARKER," Avery almost breaks down the door. "I WAS ABOUT TO THINK I COULDN'T _TAKE IT_, THAT WAS SO CRINGY, BUT- HOLY SHIT, PETER PARKER! I WASN'T EVEN AWARE THAT YOU COULD _DO _THAT KIND OF SARCASTIC!"

"Avery? Peter? What's going on?" May rushes in, a worried expression on her face.

"_Nothing!_" Avery spun to face her, looking amazed. "Your nephew _flirted,_ and _nothing went wrong!_"

"I wasn't flirting!" I exclaim, my face heating up.

"He wasn't- We weren't-" MJ looks genuinely pained.

Avery looks truly devious as she turns to face us. "Well, if there's nothing going on," she shoots me a smile worthy of a Disney villain before slamming the door shut. Aunt May can be clearly heard trying to figure out the situation before Avery shushes her, obviously wanting to listen in on the conversation.

"So," I say awkwardly. "Sorry about that."

"No worries," MJ says, still looking flustered.

We stand in silence for a moment before I realize that the awkwardness isn't being helped by use standing in the middle of the room.

"Do you wanna…?" I gesture to the chair at my desk.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure," MJ answers, sitting down.

I sit down on my bed, and pull on a baggy shirt as an afterthought.

MJ gulps, but soon regains her composure. "Where the hell have you been? It's like you dropped of the face of the Earth."

I stare at her, trying to figure out what to say. Do I go with the full-on sob story? Or just how I've actually been feeling?

The latter, obviously. MJ would think I was not only a nerd but also overdramatic if I said anything else.

"Well, this had kind of been the worst thing that's ever happened to me. So."

"Yeah, I get it. This is fucked up and it sucks. That doesn't mean you get to leave the rest of us hanging."

Her words aren't meant to sting, but they do. "Fine."

She looks up and realizes what she's said. "Peter…." She trails off, and I wonder what she's going to say, but Avery realizes she needs to stage an intervention.

"So, y'all hungry?" She asks, walking in.

"Yeah," I said, standing up. "What's for lunch?"

"Oh," MJ says. "Yeah. Uh… Lunch?"

Avery gives her a soft smile. "It's just tomato soup and grilled cheese. Alex has an old grudge with cheese, but I'm assuming you're fine with it? And tomato soup?"

MJ looks down at her hands again, and I feel horrible. I can't apologize in front of Avery, though. That'd be… Not MJ's thing. "No, I'm good with cheese and tomato. Soup." MJ mumbles.

"Okay, great," Avery leads Michell out of the room, but turns around as MJ walks towards the kitchen. "_What the fuck was that?_" She hisses.

"What was what?" I whisper back, feigning innocents. Avery wouldn't buy it for a second on her worst day, but I still can't help trying.

"MJ looks like she could die- or cry, either one, -and you look like someone ran over your puppy!"

I'm saved from an awkward answer by May. "Is everything alright?" She calls.

May is really trying to be normal for me. It's not perfect, but I'm also currently sticking to walls if I want to, so…

Normal probably won't happen again for a very long time.

"Yeah, we're fine," Avery replies, shooting me a _this-is-so-not-over_ glance before walking into the kitchen. She goes to help May get the food out, and I sit down next to MJ.

Michell leans over to me. "I'm sorry about what I said in your room," she whispers.

"No, it's my fault," I whisper back, keeping an eye on Avery and May to make sure neither of them turns to find us in this position, one I'm sure Avery would call 'incriminating'. "I should've told you what happened. Why I wasn't at school. I should've told everyone."

"That's not-" our conversation is cut short when May turns around holding two bowls. MJ sits up straight-

Revealing Alex of all people, who was, no doubt, listening in to our conversation and will most likely repeat it back to Avery, word for word.

Alex giggles and smiles at me, all teeth. I sigh, feeling banging my head on the table.

I am so dead.

_Hi!_

_Again, I'm sorry about my computer problems, but I've finally gotten it fixed!_

_If anyone _is_ reading this, thanks for continuing to pay attention! And, ElizabethCarter21, I know I'm about 51 days late, but still- thanks for the follow! It means a lot to me._

_-Lover of everything books_


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